Apples

[Ron Johnson]

Had my first honeycrisp this weekend. Very good.

[mongo_jones]

I'm no mod any more but can assure you that, if anything, we encourage such linkage. There is no aspiration to be 'the only' food site around. In fact it really puzzles me that you could think there might be a problem.

 

v

what can i say? you spend too much time around paranoiacs (or at least on their websites) and you start thinking like one.

[bushey]

We get Gravensteins, up here in New England, at a few selected orchards. They're rumored to be the best pie apples and the few times I've used them (though many years ago) to make pie, they were just perfect. They get tender without turning muchy and have a nice tart flavor. Another good eating and pie apple is Jonagold.

 

One year I found an orchard that grew Cox's Orange Pippin and they were fantastic eating apples, but they apparently stopped growing them . By this time of the season, even the Macouns have lost their crisp crunch so I revert back to Granny Smiths.

[GG Mora]

We get Gravensteins, up here in New England, at a few selected orchards. They're rumored to be the best pie apples and the few times I've used them (though many years ago) to make pie, they were just perfect. They get tender without turning muchy and have a nice tart flavor. Another good eating and pie apple is Jonagold.

 

One year I found an orchard that grew Cox's Orange Pippin and they were fantastic eating apples, but they apparently stopped growing them . By this time of the season, even the Macouns have lost their crisp crunch so I revert back to Granny Smiths.

Welcome.

 

What part of New England are you in? Curious that a grower would "stop growing" a variety. Did they cut down the trees, or just let them go native?

[helena]

Delicious Orchards, an excellent local farmers market and gourmet store, sells a medley of heirloom apples - Pomme Grise, Wickson, Hubbardston and Calville Blanc d’Hiver, the latter is very good caramelized, all the rest are eaten out of hand. Such a big taste difference even comparing to decent kinds.

[helena]

new season apples are here for some time already:

nice crisp gingergolds, taste almost like a real apple;

honeycrisps - ok but too sweet for me...

[SethG]

Not that I KNOW anything about Gravensteins, of course. Seems to me one used to see 'em around.

 

As for Mapie's, the Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec's, apple tart -- in her book La Cuisine de France (an asset to any cookbook library, and cheap I think among the online booksellers) she bestows on a few preparations her own name, and this is one: Apple Tart Mapie. It's very very very good, a fave of the Consort's, and he is the house authority on tarts, really really really likes tarts, esp. fruit tarts, esp. with apples.

 

1/4 lb. butter

1 1/4 c. sugar (I use half vanilla sugar)

4 eggs

3 T. flour

2 apples

 

Tart tin lined with pastry waiting quietly in the fridge or freezer. Oven 400 degrees F.

 

Heat butter until it turns light brown. Put the sugar in a mixer bowl and pour the brown butter over and mix well. Add the eggs one by one, beating after each. Add the flour and mix well. (Per Mapie, "This is part of the filling.")

 

Peel the apples, dice them smally, and put them in the pastry-lined tin. Pour over egg mixture. Bake 30 min. (Mine usually needs to go a bit longer; anyways, bake until custard is barely set, because, as you know, it continues to & etc. Haven't made it as yet in the new oven so all bets are off, time-wise.)

 

Mapie says serve warm or cold, sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. I skip the confectioner's ... it develops a very nice looking browny-brown top all on its own.

Pricilla, I'd love to try this tart-- if you still recommend it a year later!

 

I have a couple questions:

 

Is this a nine-inch tart? Ten?

 

Do you make this with a standard pate sucree crust?

 

Thanks.

[bloviatrix]

I adore Greenings, especially those from NYS. Granny Smiths are but a poor imitation though I eat them if thats all I can put my hands on.

Greenings are my favorite type as well. I bought my first batch of the season from Locust Grove on friday. So crunchy. And so puckeringly tart.

[helena]

Lady apples are here, thinking of roasting them whole and unpeeled and then if not lazy progressing to tarte tatin... Couple of years ago australian Vogue had a similar tart on their cover - haunting...

[Guest Suzanne F]

We finished the McIntosh from last week. I just got some Macouns -- CRISP!!!!! but a little pallid on flavor (not what I remember of them). And some Ida Reds. Apparently the Conklins forgot to bring any Northern Spies to the WTC market. North River Winery in Jacksonville, VT, makes them into wine.

[Maurice Naughton]

I likie those big California navels.

[Behemoth]

Feh. The only farmer-direct apples I can get here are red "delicious" and jonathans. The latter weren't bad (made a nice galette) but the former were mealy and flavorless. The supermarket ones are even worse.

 

The best apple I ever had in my life was up in the mountains near the cedar forest in lebanon, practically right off the tree. It looked like a cousin of a red delicious (though it was so dark red as to be nearly purple.) The weather was cold so the apple was cold, very crisp but tasted like honey.

 

Sigh.

[Maurice Naughton]

I have nothing good to say about Flint, Michigan, where I live, but the state itself has a lot to offer. One of its better gifts is 130 apple orchards, many of which have attached cider mills. There are about ten mills within about sixty miles of me, my favorite being the Franklin Mill near the posh suburb of Bloomfield Hills.

 

Franklin is a pretty commercial orchard and mill combo, doing a big business in cider and donuts on Sundays, when the parking lot and the picnic areas are always full, and peddling all possible apple products--cider, of course, but also pies, butter, jams and jellies, candies, and apple-related gewgaws and knick-knacks.. But they grow some wonderful apples, including Mutsus (one of my favorites), Northern Spies, Macintoshes, Ida Reds and other crisp and tart varieties. No Jonathans, unfortunately, nor any herloom apples, though that may change.. There's a cold stream behind the water mill, and it's full of clean, crisp, beautiful, peppery watercress that nobody but me seems to care about.

 

The only problem is I don't have a car.

[Maurice Naughton]

Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith are the top three US apples, accounting for 65% of commercial apple production. But the popularity of the relatively new Fuji is such that it is likely to replace the Granny Smith as number three.

 

Gravensteins were imported from Europe around 1820. There are extensive plantings in California, mainly north of San Francisco.

 

For apple pie and apple crumble (also called apple crisp), Michigan's Northern Spy is nonpariel.

 

Michigan's Paula Reds and Empires are excellent for applesauce. (Braeburn, though not grown commercially in Michigan, is also good for applesauce.)

 

Just for fun, you can see over a hundred pictures of apples, all different varieties, by clicking here.

 

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Apple varieties grown commercially in Michigan (where the apple blossom is the state flower). Based largely on information from

 

 

Empire (Baking, Salads, Dipping, Sauces, Eating) – Remains crisp when cut up for salads or for a quick snack. Sweet and tart; holds up well for months after picking.

 

Fuji (Excellent Eating, Dipping, Sauces) – With a fantastic sweet and tart flavor, this Japanese apple will stay crisp for weeks. [The most popular apple in Japan. It's a hybrid cross between the American Delicious and an apple called Rall's Janet, native to the state of Virginia.]

 

Gala (Excellent Eating, Salads, Sauces) – Crisp snappy bite with a mellow sweetness. Looks great and has a hint of pear taste.

 

Golden Delicious (Baking, Salads, Sauces, Eating) – With a gingery-smooth, sweet taste, this popular yellow apple is also great in the kitchen for any purpose

 

Granny Smith (Excellent Dipping, Baking, Eating) – With a firm, crisp texture, this dark green apple is an excellent choice for caramel apples; its extreme tartness balances the sweetness of the caramel.

 

Honeycrisp (Excellent Eating, Salads) – Unique color, excellent sweet flavor, and a great crisp bite.

 

Ida Red (Excellent Baking, Salads, Dipping, Sauces, Eating) – One of the best all around apples, with a sweetly tart taste, Ida Red will remain crisp and juicy for months after picking. The texture holds up well in baking.

 

Jonagold (Excellent Eating, Baking, Salads, Dipping, Sauce) – With sweet and tart in each bite, this fruit is large abd aromatic. A Jonathan - Golden Delicious cross.

 

McIntosh (Salads, Sauces, Eating, Baking) – An ultra-juicy, lightly tart apple, a favorite among all ages.

 

Northern Spy (Excellent Baking, Salads, Dipping, Sauces) – This historic apple is the absolute best for baking. Its beauty is beneath its skin. It holds up extremely well when baked in pies and other dishes. It will remain hard and tart longer than any other apple.

 

Paula Red (Eating, Baking, Sauces) – With tart flavor and good aroma, this Michigan native (from Sparta) is a great apple for late August and September.

 

Red Delicious (Salads, Eating) - Discovered over 100 years ago in Iowa, Red Delicious has a full-flavored sweet taste with a crisp texture.

 

Jonathan (Salads, Baking, Eating). Juicy; flavor has a spicy tang that blends well with other apples. Michigan’s cool climate produces superb Jonathans (Native to New York, around Woodstock)

 

Macoun (Sauces, Eating) – Ripening later in the season, this red apple is an excellent choice for McIntosh lovers. Similar in taste and texture.

 

Mutsu (Eating, Baking) – This generally large, crisp, tart, green, Japanese apple is a favorite for its unique taste. It's also known as Crispin.

 

Rome (Baking) Romes have mild, sweet flavor. Most popular for baking because it holds flavor and shape well. A Southern favorite, although native to Ohio. Perhaps the best for baked apples.

 

Spigold (Excellent Eating, Sauces, Salads)- Similar to the Jonagold in appearance and firmness, but it is slightly sweeter.

 

Winesap (Baking, Sauces, Eating) – A classic favorite variety good for many uses.

 

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Very early apples, in consequence of which they tend to be lightweights, whose flavors lack depth and whose textures are not typically apple-crisp.

 

 

Cortland (Excellent Eating, Baking, Salads, Dipping, Sauce)

 

Summertreat (Eating), another name for the Early Red Delicious

 

Mollies Delicious (Eating) another name for the Early Golden Delicious

 

Jerseymac (Eating, Sauces, Baking) Early apple

 

Jonamac (Eating, Salads, Sauce, Baking) Early apple. Jonathan - McIntosh cross

 

Viking (Eating) Early Apple

[Guest Suzanne F]

For those who get the complete New Yorker, look for a profile by Berton Roueché in the August 11, 1975 issue, titled "One Hundred Thousand Varieties." Fascinating apple article.

The Americanization of the apple has been as total as the Irishization of the potato. The apple may be as French as Calvados, as German as strudel, and as Swiss as William Tell, but nothing is more American than apple pie.